Kansas City Council Involves Airlines, Voters In KCI Planning

KCI the way it is: will the three terminals be replaced by a single one?

Credit KC Aviation Department

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Collaboration on the future of the KCI airport was the focus Thursday as the Kansas City council promised the airlines and the voters their voices will be heard.

The council approved a lease renewal agreement with eight airlines that also includes structure for airline input into whether the city will renovate or replace its aging airport terminals.

Transportation and infrastructure chair Russ Johnson told his colleagues the airlines' viewpoint is important to the process.

“We will know how much the airlines are willing to pay for. We will know what they think is best for themselves, and of course it is a negotiated process so we've got a while to get there,” the councilman said.

"A while" in this case means within the two year duration of the lease renewals.

The council also committed the city to a public vote on any plan to tear down any existing terminal or build a new one.

In doing so, they complied sufficiently with petitions for an election on a measure to that effect that petitioners withdrew their insistence on the election.

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Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration told Kansas City's Airport Terminal Advisory Committee Monday that their agency wouldn't pay very much of the cost of building a new terminal. But a consultants report suggested a new terminal building might help pay for itself.

Sandwiches, coffee and soft drinks could help pay for a new terminal according to Garfield Eaton of transportation consultants Frasca & Associates. He says KCI finished in last place for concession revenues among 20 airports studied - about 66 cents for each departing passenger.